Neural Networks and Deep Learning_#2

On the exercises and problems

It's not uncommon for technical books to include an admonition from the author that readers must do the exercises and problems. I always feel a little peculiar when I read such warnings. Will something bad happen to me if I don't do the exercises and problems? Of course not. I'll gain some time, but at the expense of depth of understanding. Sometimes that's worth it. Sometimes it's not.

So what's worth doing in this book? My advice is that you really should attempt most of the exercises, and you should aim not to do most of the problems.

You should do most of the exercises because they're basic checks that you've understood the material. If you can't solve an exercise relatively easily, you've probably missed something fundamental. Of course, if you do get stuck on an occasional exercise, just move on - chances are it's just a small misunderstanding on your part, or maybe I've worded something poorly. But if most exercises are a struggle, then you probably need to reread some earlier material.

The problems are another matter. They're more difficult than the exercises, and you'll likely struggle to solve some problems. That's annoying, but, of course, patience in the face of such frustration is the only way to truly understand and internalize a subject.

With that said, I don't recommend working through all the problems. What's even better is to find your own project. Maybe you want to use neural nets to classify your music collection. Or to predict stock prices. Or whatever. But find a project you care about. Then you can ignore the problems in the book, or use them simply as inspiration for work on your own project. Struggling with a project you care about will teach you far more than working through any number of set problems. Emotional commitment is a key to achieving mastery.

Of course, you may not have such a project in mind, at least up front. That's fine. Work through those problems you feel motivated to work on. And use the material in the book to help you search for ideas for creative personal projects.